The present invention relates to improvements to an automobile sunshine roof of the kind described in British Pat. No. 1,444,709, having means defining a roof aperture including a front cross member of upwardly open channel section, a rear cross member of upwardly open trough shaped cross section having front and rear walls, and two longitudinal runners of upwardly open channel section having inner and outer walls, a flexible roof covering, a cross-piece to which the rear edge of said roof covering is attached, two levers supporting the said cross-piece and pivotally attached to said longitudinal runners, and a pair of flexible straps attached to opposite ends of said cross-piece, the leading ends of said straps being adapted to engage in the channel of the front cross member to tension the straps, which cover the longitudinal edges of the roof covering when the latter is fitted over said roof aperture.
The object of the present invention is to provide, for an automobile with a sunshine roof, a transparent rigid roof panel which is removable, which can be stowed in the automobile trunk when not in use and which can be fixed over the roof aperture in place of the flexible roof covering.
The transparent roof panel to which the present invention relates is intended to be used, in particular, on an automobile having a roof aperture of the type described above, in which use is made of the flexible straps which normally serve to cover the longitudinal edges of the roof covering when the latter is in its closed position over the roof aperture.